Performance excellence through design: Technological innovation and human consideration

To improve performance, most scientists and engineers always like to take an approach considering the technological innovation. They believe that technology can bring a breakthrough and solve problems and in turn result in a high quality product, system and environment. On the other hand, some researchers take another approach; that they doubt the result of and also sometimes the purpose behind technology, as well as its development. They prefer to put the emphasis on human factors and claim such kind of emphasis can bring a real benefit to people. Through a design case study of an arsenic filter implemented in Nepal, this paper argues for a balance in technological innovation and human consideration. By conducting field visits, tracing the development of the filter and proposing new design improvements for the filter container, this paper advocates that the quality of performance of a product, system or environment relies on design which requires a serious consideration not only on functional aspects, but also human factors as well as the practice of particular users.